After a few years in Italy I am thinking of buying a house does anyone have experience of mortgage providers ?
Also, are mortgages insured in Italy in the case of death of the main breadwinner ?
What about building and contents insurance, is it normal to have these in Italy ?

Hi Crisb ,

mortgage in italy is now easy for foreign buyers , you can have the same option that
in Usa , uk , and samo other countries -
The interst rate is about 0,50% lowest
than in Uk , and you can find , even, mortgages
that have for some first years the fixed interest rate and following the variable interest rate . the spread is fixed at mortgage signature and applied to IRS for fixed and to Euribor for variable .

I wish someone would explain to me how mortgages are computed here. IN the states a mortgage payment will remain the same for the life of the loan, but the amount credited to the principle and interest will change every month.

We've just received our statement from our German mortgage company (BHW, with an office in Balzano), and every month, every year, the amount credited to the principle is exactly the same, and the amount charged for interest is exactly the same.

Is there a different type of computation used in Europe, or is it just our company?

Barb ,

sorry for my not very good english )

Yet , on the standard mortgage you monthly interest on the remaining capital , that you repay first all interest on all captal , and then the capital - On the BHW mortgage you pay before the first half quote of the the capital, and interest on all capital - and then the remaining capital . I do not know if the full explain of BHW mortgage in English , can to write here (maybe someone can to think that i make an advertising ! ) - but if this do not are problem , i can explain it , to all - as i deal even with the BHW .

quote:

Originally posted by chrisb:
After a few years in Italy I am thinking of buying a house does anyone have experience of mortgage providers ?
Also, are mortgages insured in Italy in the case of death of the main breadwinner ?
What about building and contents insurance, is it normal to have these in Italy ?

Chrisb

There are a number of lenders offering euro mortgages and euro interest rates are certainly lower than the UK at the moment. Some lenders provide mortages to purchase, renovate and build new properties in Italy, although in some cases they will not finance the purchase of land, or rural buildings which are deemed uninhabitable at the time of signing the Compromesso. In other words check the lender’s terms and conditions carefully. You will, moreover, need to provide prrof of income.

Rather than saying that the process is easy, I would say that it is becoming more accessible, although some Italian banks are still a bit too old fasioned in their mind set and need to move with the times.

My advice is to shop around and seek proper, professional advice.

quote:

Originally posted by CJ:
Chrisb

There are a number of lenders offering euro mortgages and euro interest rates are certainly lower than the UK at the moment. Some lenders provide mortages to purchase, renovate and build new properties in Italy, although in some cases they will not finance the purchase of land, or rural buildings which are deemed uninhabitable at the time of signing the Compromesso. In other words check the lender’s terms and conditions carefully. You will, moreover, need to provide prrof of income.

FYI, we just ran into this while buying a property requiring complete restoration. We had hoped to get a loan to buy and restore, but were turned down and told if we bought the land outright first, our odds were much better for getting the construction loan using the land as collateral. We were able to do the land purchase, though it was extremely painful because of the terrible dollar-to-euro exchange rate (the primary reason we wanted to finance as much as possible in the first place). Hopefully the construction loan will be easier to accomplish now, though we need building plans and estimates before applying.

Definitely a different experience from applying in the US, where banks more or less throw credit at you!

Don't have a problem in have mortgage to buy and restore , restore only, building only ,
also if the property is a ruin; the problem is only to find the appropriate bank !

This because not alla bank have the same products (mortgages) , is for this reason that
the Financial brokers ( in italy Financial agents and Mediatori creditizi) exist ! )

Regarding insurance on mortgage payment, in case of borrowers dead , also this problem have a solution , have some italian Insurance firm,
with this product - also for this , the financial broker is the better way

please " diffidare delle imitazioni " )

Ugo,
On an early TV news program last night (canale 5, I think) there was a story of two, fairly modern, apartment blocks, which were fully occupied by almost 50 families, that had been declared as abusivo by the local authorities who wanted to throw the owners out and demolish the buildings.

This is not the first time this has happened but in this instance the occupying families were the actual owners who had bought the places with mortgages using notaio’s and everything else.

So my question is; if you buy a property using a notaio and a bank for a mortgage (who also do some kind of survey) how can you still end up with an abusivo place. What else can a prospective buyer do to guard against this? Also, whose fault is it? Is the Notaio liable for not having discovered that the place was abusivo?

It's usually the very first thing checked, and usually by the Geometra. If the story is true, someone screwed up badly.